Planting up a brassica bed

The phrase ‘not helpful’ comes to mind.  Artur and dirt and water just don’t mix.

I have finished planting up the long brassica bed and have come in for a pot of tea before I attempt to create the netting. And change my head gear.  Mornings are for beanies, and lunchtime onwards are for a wide brimmed sunhat.

And if I am being hard hearted I must admit I am indoors as I’m hiding from the cat. Boy is he clingy today. I swear I would have planted up the bed much faster were he snoozing somewhere else.

If he wasn’t sitting just where I wanted to plant, he was stepping into the planting holes and getting muddy. And then wanting a cuddle.

But I’ve seen through that ruse, he just looks at me as a vehicule for drying his paws much faster if he can walk all over my denim clad legs.

And being so elderly you can’t really shove him out of the way. You have to urge him on.  And getting the hose out works. He loves water.

But I am not keen on him drinking spring water with the added addition of a few buckets of my nettle ‘tea’.  His digestive system is already fragile.

So it wasn’t a peaceful morning. Until he fell asleep next to the brassicas and beside the red clover forest. Aren’t they gorgeous. I love that colour; so much so they are going into flower bouquets without any apologies.   Calling red clover green manure just doesn’t do the wonderful plant justice.

The only downside to this wonderful crop of clover is it drives the local deer population mad. Earlier this week I went up to cut some asparagus and spooked a wonderful male deer who was mid chomp.

He leapt further up the hill but didn’t even race away. He stood there staring at me, chewing the mouthful of red clover (it was sticking out of his mouth) and probably waiting until I had picked my favourite spring delicacy so he could get on with eating his.

So what is in the bed? Cabbages and kale. And a broccoli type plant called brokali which is a cut and come again calabrese.

I actually want this bed to get well established and will try not to cut the leaves until summer. So the cavolo nero kale and the spring cabbage varieties should bulk up.  If they aren’t munched.

The rest of my massive brassica crop are lurking in the potting shed. I always, always sow too much.

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And here it is all tucked up.